THE differing views of Worcester Mayor Allah Ditta and racial equality chief Mohammed Aslam reminds us that race and culture do not change the fact that however similar our background, we can disagree strongly, and yet respect each other as people.

There is only one true race - the human race - and what people have come to call racism is often something much less wicked.

We should call it culturism but even that would not have regard for individual temperament.

For example every so-called race, religion, nation or even local community has, within it, people who are naturally conservative in their temperament and outlook while alongside them there are radicals who challenge the status quo. This is unrelated to race.

Our post-imperial guilt trip has been a valuable opportunity to challenge centuries-old intolerances based on propaganda which would have us believe that "our" race, religion, nation, home town and so on is superior to others and that people who were born and brought up elsewhere are naturally inferior to us.

Worse than this is the belief that those others are dangerous and pose a threat so great that we must exterminate them or drive them away from our community.

But having seen our guilt trip through and constructed the machinery of an anti-racist industry we must understand why people like Dr Aslam find racism wherever they look.

For the past 30 years, at least, Britain's middle classes have encouraged us to view every act of discrimination of choice as racism. This is true if we happen to be arguing with someone of another culture, just as now I can't argue with a woman without being a misogynist or argue with a gay person without being accused of homophobia.

In other words it's all got very silly and anti-democratic. It stops us having realistic political arguments with each other.

But the good thing that's come out of it is that for the first time in human history, we can see how similar we all are - and that our differences spring from what sort of human beings we are and not because we are English of Buddhist, or men, or black, or women and so on. Let's grasp that opportunity.

JIM EVANS,

Worcester.